unfriend

plural unfriends · alternative un-friend

1. One who is not a friend; an enemy.

   Thus many unfriends and some friends of the Capital agree upon the same policy with diverse and contradictory motives[…]

   1916, William Edwin Chilton, John Downey Works, Fiscal relation between the United States and the District of Columbia

   4 more examples

   It is even as I suspected, my lord, […] Ye have back-friends, my lord, that is, unfriends—or, to be plain, enemies—about the person of the Prince.

   1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in The Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume II (in English), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 88–89

   I wonder often it has not drawn her out of the grave to come and stand before me, and hear me tell her how I loved her. For, sir, we parted unfriends.

   1856, Elizabeth Gaskell, The Poor Clare

   For we desire no strangers in these lands to break the peace in which we live, and these folk are hewers of trees and hunters of beasts; therefore we are their unfriends, and if they will not depart we shall afflict them in all ways that we can.

   1977, J. R. R. Tolkien, “Of the Coming of Men Into the West”, in The Silmarillion

   The unfriend betrays me, ignores me, denies me, breaks me down; the unfriend is against and tries to devour my personhood.

   1999, Kees Waaijman, John Vriend, The mystical space of Carmel

   Synonyms: nonfriend, non-friend

present singular third person unfriends · participle present unfriending · participle past unfriended · past unfriended · alternative un-friend

1. rareTo sever as friends.

   "I hope, sir, that we are not mutually Unfriended by this Difference which hath happened betwixt us."

   1659, Thomas Fuller, The Appeal of Injured Innocence

2. social mediaTo defriend; to remove from one's friends list (e.g. on a social networking website).

   "I asked her why, she said it was because I didn't comment, and I shrugged and said whatever. I didn't unfriend her."

   2007, Mia Consalvo, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Internet Research Annual: Volume 4

   1 more example

   Without unfriending someone, you can now choose to limit or block (unsubscribe) someone from your newsfeed or choose to see only what Facebook deems as very important.

   2013, Nils Smith, Social Media Guide for Ministry: What It Is and How to Use It